Prevalence of Pseudoexfoliation Syndrome Among Adult Spanish in the Salnés eye Study

Abstract

Purpose: To estimate the prevalence of Pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PXF) and to investigate its relationship with systemic and ocular diseases and lifestyle factors in a general adult population in north-western Spain.

Methods: An age-stratified random sample of 1155 subjects was drawn from the population aged 40 years and over of O Salnés (Spain). From 937 eligible subjects, 619 (66.1%) participated (mean age (Standard Deviation [SD]): 63.4 (14.5) years, range: 40–96, 37.0% males). An interview to collect past history of ocular and systemic diseases and lifestyle details, and a comprehensive ophthalmic evaluation were performed. Study subjects with typical pseudoexfoliative material on the anterior capsule or in the pupil margin were labelled as having PXF. A design based analysis was performed and all calculations were weighted to give unbiased estimates.

Results: The prevalence of PXF was 6.5% (95% confidence interval [CI]:4.9–8.1). PXF rates increased significantly with age (P = 0.000). No cases of PXF were detected in subjects between 40 and 60 years. Prevalence of PXF was 8.0% (95% C I5.4–11.6) in men and 5.4% (95% CI 3.8–7.6) in women (P = ns). The prevalence of glaucoma in subjects with PXF was 19.6% (95% CI 8.2–40.0). After controlling for age and sex, glaucoma, cataract surgery, rose bengal staining and diabetes were associated with PXF but only glaucoma and rose bengal staining associations remained significant in a multivariate model.

Conclusions: PXF is common among older individuals in north-western Spain. Subjects with pseudoexfoliation have a significantly higher prevalence of glaucoma than subjects without. An abnormal ocular surface detected by rose bengal staining is highly prevalent among subjects with pseudoexfoliation.

KEYWORDS::

• Associated factors
• Population-based
• Prevalence
• Pseudoexfoliation
• Risk factors

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The study was supported by grants from the Xunta de Galicia (PGIDIT05SAN52PR) and the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (RD06/0018/0006). F. Gude was supported by a grant (BAE09/90052) from the Carlos III Health Institute (Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology).

Declaration of Interest: The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.